Ziglar

I met Zig Ziglar in Salt Lake City in 1977.  He was one of several motivational speakers at a PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) rally.

I was not long married, fresh out of college, and new to a promising job with IBM. They had a proven strategy for supporting personal excellence and improving job performance. This time, it involved a weekend retreat at a Park City ski resort. I was to conduct one of their training sessions, sharing my PMA experience with staff.

Recovering from a serious depression just a few years before, I took great comfort in the Dale Carnegie style of self-help literature. I knew of  speakers Norman Vincent Peale, Paul Harvey, W. Clement Stone and Robert Schuller.  Ziglar was an unfamiliar name, but not for long.

He presented an over-the-top enactment of the concepts in his book “See You At The Top”.

To this day, I have never seen a more animated, energetic and dynamic speaker. I left the rally wishing I had a sales career; was pretty sure I’d have been unstoppable.

I fought my way through a newly-motivated crowd to meet him at a book signing event which followed. He did not disappoint. I took my signed book and began planning my training session. It went well. I was proud.

*** Fast forward about 20 years. My brother, now in sales, was visiting for the holidays and noticed the Zig Ziglar book in my collection. He knew his works well, was impressed that I’d had the chance meeting, and asked to borrow the book.

As I opened the book to expose the signature, I noticed an added script on the bottom of the title page; something I had missed.

It was his executive suite number at the Salt Lake hotel.

It gave me a very different understanding of “See You at the Top “.

 

 

 

 

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